TMOTCS: THE LIFE OF GOD IN HUMAN PERSON

The commencement of life of God within the human personality starts when there is regeneration of the mind and heart to allow a man to participate in the divine nature of God (2 Peter 1:4). God does not alter or patch up the old nature of man. He gives man an entirely new nature which causes a very great change in him (2 Cor 5:17). Regeneration brings about a new birth which makes it possible for man to enjoy divine life and becomes a child of God with unlimited and unrestricted privileges.

New birth opens the door to God’s life in human person. It is not a natural birth (John 3:4) nor a psychological and a religious thing; it is a real and practical experience. Nicodemus was full of religious knowledge but without the new birth. So, knowledge and mere external reformation are not substitutes for new birth. It is neither by self-effort nor by good works; it is according to the mercy of God (Titus 3:5).

Why then is the new birth compulsory? Without new birth nobody can have the life of God in him. It is prescribed by God as the only condition for His relationship with man in his fallen nature. The man by nature is spirituality dead and cannot please God nor enter His Kingdom because God is Spirit. The new birth is the work of the Holy Spirit by the Word of God in response to faith in the Lordship of Christ (1 John 5:12). So, without a new birth experience, no person can possess the life of God! (John 5:40)